Effect of Different Levels of Dietary Supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Growth Performance, Feed Utilization and Body Biochemical Composition of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Fingerlings

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of dietary supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on growth performance, feed utilization and body biochemical composition of Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. Four diets containing supplementation at levels of 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 g kg−1 were fed to fingerlings of Nile tilapia (5.01±0.21 g) in four replicate tanks twice daily to apparent satiation for 56 days. Growth performance increased significantly (P<0.05) with the increase in dietary yeast levels. The highest growth was obtained at 1.0–2.0 g yeast kg−1 diet. The lowest feed conversion ratio was obtained at 2.0 g yeast kg−1 diet. Linear relationship was found between dietary supplementation levels and protein efficiency ratio. Hepatosomatic index did not display any significant difference among the treatments. Whereas, Viscerosomatic index of O. niloticus fingerlings was significantly (P<0.05) affected by various supplementation levels. S. cerevisiae quantity significantly (P<0.05) affected whole fish body composition except for moisture and ash, which did not differ. The results of the present study indicated clearly that the supplementation of S. cerevisiae (1.0 g yeast kg−1 diet) enhanced the growth performance and feed utilization of O. niloticus fingerlings.